Replies

1. 
   4Lorn2 | Jan 22, 2004 06:55am | #1

   This is from an electrical point of view but I think it may have some applicability to general construction.

   One of my old bosses tried one and went back to a simple scale, guess and multiplier method. He was estimating conduit runs primarily. He said that he had some success with CAD drawings, where the drawings are truly in scale, he found that he could often just pick up the phone and have the CAD man give him the numbers directly from internal spread sheet.

   On other drawings the scale was more questionable and minor distortions added up quickly. These he found that a simple hand scale, guesstimate and a thrown in multiplier, to cover the true versus estimated lengths, was as, if not more, accurate.

   The least useful category was in old work situations. Where an on-the-site estimate was vital and a healthy additional multiplier, to cover inevitable surprises, was essential.  Little things in old work can cause great trouble. Another reason why many of these jobs are done T and M.

   I once worked on a job where we were to drill through a reinforced wall to get a 6" conduit through. The problem was that there were no specs for the wall and we had assumed it was a standard design perhaps 8" thick with #4 rebar at 12" OC. Come to find out that there was, in a past iteration a heavy industrial plant on the floor above, so the wall was closer to 12" thick with two parallel sets of #5 at 4" OC set in a very hard and tough, old concrete. Surprise, surprise.

   Getting through the wall went from a heavy hours work with a hammerdrill, hammer and chisel to a major ordeal involving a diamond core drill. We hit six separate pieces of #5. The difference in cost was quite substantial.

2. 
   nwilhelm1 | Jan 22, 2004 03:57pm | #2

   I have used the Scale Master II in the past and will offer the folowing comments.

   1.  For long runs where the scale is accurate on drawing reproduction it can be useful for producing an 'estimate' of total linear quantity.

   2. The units I have used in the past have a rather annoying feature in that, if the wheel is too loose on the stick, the unit will continue to count. Additonal problem is that if you are not precise in placement of count wheel at begginnig or end of measurements, error will be introduced. As previous post mentioned, overall error can be substantial.

   3. My unit currently rests on a shelf next to my scales. No dust on scales.

   Best Regards

3. 
   BobKovacs | Jan 22, 2004 05:11pm | #3

   Tim-

   I'll agree with the previous poster.  The wheel tends to contnue spinning if you pick it up too fast, thereby adding length.  If you're careful, though, it's a lot faster than using an architect's scale. 

   I use the Scalemaster when I can't get electronic copies of the plans.  When I can, I use On-Screen Takeoff by OnCenter Software.  It loads the drawings up right on the screen, and you do your takeoff using the mouse.  Extremely accurate, easy to use, and it dumps all your takeoff data directly into Excel.  It's around $2500 though.

   Bob